Travelog: Tragedy in Bangkok? (Day 2)

Woohoo it’s Day 2 of thebaghag in Bangkok. We were to visit the Grand Palace, Emerald Buddha (which was also inside the palace– the emerald buddha is actually made of green jade :D), and then have a visit to Samut Prakan Crocodile Farm in the afternoon with the kids.

One thing I noticed about Thais is how much they love their King. And believe me, I too have so much respect for their King because he’s very kind, humble, and really has nothing bad to say about anything or anyone for that matter. And he loves his country and his people. Thais (and other nationalities) respect him and revere in him because of his goodness. Now THAT’s royalty! Almost every street has a big photo of him. And almost everyone I see wears yellow (the color of the King). This part of their culture really amazes me. I’ve never seen people this devoted. I guess that also makes this country real orderly (well except for the traffic, which is horrid, as you will find out in a bit).

We got to the Grand Palace and the heat was just piercing, the sun literally scorching our skin. No amount of SPF can prevent sunburns. Thank goodness for my trusted ol’ polka dot brolly. If I didn’t bring one, I’d be totally roasted by midday.

The Grand Palace is such a welcome change from all the European palaces I’ve seen (actually I haven’t seen much). I love the architecture, although somehow it sorta reminded me of all those Chinese temples I’ve seen in the Philippines 😀 Hands down though, this palace is certainly a lot more detailed and ornate. There were these “demons” who were guarding the palace (ok someone should really kick my bootie for not listening to the guide… I was too busy taking photos). Right now, I am having difficulty labeling all the photos. *And here I am, proud to tell you that I can’t label the photos… tsk I’m such an eeediot for even bragging*

So natch I kept clicking away with my trusted ol’ Canon camera (yes, the camera that “smokes” up when I use the flash). Check out this photo I took of the miniature scale of Angkor Wat! *brag brag* I was too busy bragging to my siblings about how good a photographer I had become *muwahaha I really do brag in real life hahaha esp to my siblings!!* when I accidentally dropped my camera on hard ground! This was one of those moments when I yelled out loud “Oh Sh*t!” (and I got dirty looks from the English speaking tourists hahaha Woopsie my bad!). Because indeed, SH*T had happened. My camera committed suicide and died (because I had kept making fun of it– smoke and all). Oh and you should’ve seen me trying to revive it. It looked dead. Didn’t even want to turn on despite my repeated tries to remove the battery- replace the battery trick (which normally works with cellphones). I was desperate– and willing to try just about anything. I remembered this all too clearly when we passed by a Kwan Yin (goddess). My DM told me that people who wish for something there usually end up getting it. So I was told to ask for something wisely (me being the stupid one, would always ask for something “material” muwahaha…Isn’t that to be expected of this shallow baghagness?). This time, all I asked for was for my camera to work again. We went past the Kwan Yin and I prayed for a miracle that my camera would be resuscitated (I didn’t even ask for money for a new bag!!). I did what I did with the battery and really just kept my fingers crossed. My attempts to revive it were futile. It was really dead. I was in denial that it would actually die on me on this trip. Oh the rest of the tour around the palace, I was in mourning. I made fun of my camera and now it died on me. (I was too cheap to replace the flash bulb and now I’m forced to replace the camera *bawl bawl*)

I wasn’t even able to take a photo of this beautiful mini Buckingham-like palace within the Grand Palace– it was apparently built by King Rama for his son (who ended up not wanting to stay there anyway), and is now only occupied when real Royalty *aka NOT bag royalty hehe psst I’m friggin’ bag royalty– heck I have a crown on my Goyard bags! Muwahaha* would come visit Thailand (Queen Elizabeth R had apparently stayed there too). I loved that particular palace. Oh how I wish I could stay there for a week 😀 *Bright idea!* I should write a letter of request to the Thai powers that be 😀 .

But wait! You wonder what camera I was using for the rest of the trip? Read on and you’ll find out more.

We went back to the hotel after the visit to the Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha. We only had 1 hour to grab a bite, get the kids into the car before driving off to tourist spot #2– Samut Prakan.

I alloted myself 40 minutes to go and find me a new camera. DH went back to the room with my dead camera while I ran over to the neighboring mall called Amarin to look for a camera. ANY camera. I was desperate. It didn’t really help that no one in that mall could understand me. I kept saying “camera shop” and the locals were pointing me to different floors of the mall. Finally there was someone in the friggin’ tourist stand in the mall (she went on a lunch break earlier) so I was able to ask. She said apologetically, “oh no camera store here. Go Central Mall”. OUCH. Talk about a 40 minute wild goose chase. It was really too late. I had no time to go to Central Mall– that walk alone takes 15 minutes. I walked back to my hotel, this time with the realization that I won’t have any more photos for the rest of the day. And it was a treat to go to Samut Prakan too– the world’s LARGEST crocodile farm– 40,000 crocs and nothing to document it with except words on my blog… This was getting too depressing.

When I got to the restaurant where la famille was, DH was already there. He hands me back the camera (in its LV wapity case *cough what a label whore I am*) and says nonchalantly “The camera’s OK. You probably discharged the battery somehow when you dropped the camera.”
I was flabbergasted. My jaw literally dropped to the floor when he said that. Of course then blood went back to my brain and I could only hear myself saying “thank you thank you thank you for resuscitating my camera!”

And so the story of this happy camper avec le camera continues 🙂 *APPLAUSE PLEASE!! WOOOHOOOO!!!! SHE LIVES!!!*

The ride to Samut Prakan was supposedly just going to take us 45 minutes. But TRAFFIC was soooo bad!!! If Manila traffic is “real bad” during Christmastime, I cannot find adjectives to describe the traffic situation in Bangkok (and the outskirts of Bangkok)– and the situation is like this almost daily!!! We arrived Samut Prakan after a TWO hour ++ drive *Thank goodness the kids held their “bladders” (did I “say”that right?) or we’d all end up smelling so bad we could even jump into the croc pens and they’d be totally uninterested in us haha*

At Samut Prakan, we were practically the only tourists around! Apparently tourists get taken to another crocodile farm– a smaller one *don’t ask me where, I dunno :D* Samut Prakan also happens to house the world’s largest crocodile in captivity ( We went through one croc pen after the other, each housing what, 10- 20 young crocs (from itty bitty ones to adolescent ones). This is so dangerous, you can actually get your hand bitten off from these pens. Imagine trying to take a better photo of the crocs by putting your hand slightly in (and above) the pen’s wall. And SNAP! Lookie that croc with that snout wide open. It opened its mouth when it saw my hand sorta go into the pen as I took this photo (these guys are about 4- 5 feet in length)*Crap I can’t handle a 2nd accident with my camera… hehe and it’s only in retrospect that I thought about my arm.. DUH!!*

We hurriedly (because we were late for the elephant show *yes, ain’t that funny that they have tons of crocs AND a couple of elephants in this farm?) went past a few more pens before getting to the main holding area (it was like a murky green riverful of ADULT crocs– most of them at least 8 feet in length!). We took these steps up to the “bridge” walkway that led us to the other side where the elephant show was being held. As I peered through the cracks beneath the steps, I saw a HUMONGOUS and jurassic (yes, I swear it looked totally archaic) looking crocodile. I figured this was “YAI” *yeah the dude has a name :D* and just looking at him gave me goosebumps. Even the kids were scared. (We actually passed a small “exhibit” area prior to this main “river” where there were “stuffed” crocs– HUGE ones. The kids were sooo frightened by these reptilian giants, and they were dead. What more this huge live one!) I sooo did NOT want to be anywhere near this big guy. Soooo I’m sorry I didn’t take a photo. I think I was really too freaked out by its sheer size. NINETEEN FEET++ LONG!!! *Shudder*

So, after a short walk across a park, we got to the mini stadium where the elephant show was being held. My younger DK looooves elephants, so when these gentle pachyderms came out, all I heard were claps and shrieks of excitement (not shrilly shrieks, thank goodness)! I was actually able to relax a bit. I got real frazzled earlier by “Yai” because I was worried the kids might get nightmares because of him. But worries were quickly forgotten as the kids watched with glee as the elephants did stunts like walk the tightrope (a low tightrope), sit down, do a head stand, and even paint! I actually sorta felt sorry for these elephants. I hope they are treated well while in training! (The trainers seemed like they love these big guys :D) They may be big, but they are so cute! They even came around our area to show their other stunt= collecting bills *money* from the crowd *gulp, US haha*

After the elephant show, we ran to the other side of the park to see a Crocodile wrestling show. This was something else. As we walked up the steps, we kept hearing what sounded like a thick bamboo branch being whacked against concrete– amplified. So I was afraid. I thought I was about to witness animal cruelty. Well, the “wrestlers” weren’t hitting the crocs. Those sounds I heard were of the crocs’ snouts SNAPPING SHUT! According to one of the peeps at the farm, these crocs have snapping “weight” of about 1,000 lbs per snap. Which means, if you get your head into the croc’s mouth like this dude, and it decides to snap shut, it’s OFF WITH YOUR HEAD! *Afraid!!* KIDS DON’T DO THIS AT HOME! *shudder* Our guide later tells us that there have been accidents in the past at this croc farm… Tsk why do they have to put their heads in? My throat was actually in my stomach the whole time I was watching this show.

Croc show over, we proceeded to the gift shop. It was almost time for the whole farm to close too! So we went over and checked out what was there to buy. Waaaaaah. Looksie, plenty croc bags! And looksie! Birkinesque and Kellyesque bags in REAL croc!!! I call this the Samut Prakan Birkin 🙂 *betcha bottom dollar these babies cost 100x cheaper than the Hermes birkin haha*

And oye, don’t laugh! They even have it in a fancy color 😀 *Wolfwhistle hehe* Ok, that was muy mal of me to make fun of the croc birkinesque bags. These aren’t even fake H bags. They’re just H inspired 😀 I didn’t even ask anymore how much the bags cost because we were already literally pushed out of the store and into our van. *Crud, I should’ve bought one! That way I really get to brag about owning another croc bag! Tsk!* Our guide says the traffic is already bad going back to Bangkok. We had no choice but to troop back to the van. Oh. My. Gawd. Not again. 🙁

True to his word, the traffic was REALLLLLLLY BAAAAAAAD. We were stuck in this area for about an hour– and we were just staring at this enormongous three headed elephant monument for the longest time. HUGE!!!!! Hmm… isn’t it funny now how there’s a pattern happening here— Thailand is famous for enormongous things 🙂 *giggles hehehe*

We got back to the hotel after THREE hours of traffic. Kids were all so tired so we just decided to let them sleep while we all freshened up and got ready to go out to grab a quick dinner at Central Mall.

More on the food tomorrow 🙂 What a long post this was 🙂 At least 2 touristy things were done in Day 2 and more importantly, at least MY CAMERA IS STILL ALIVE– see the wish I made with the Kwan Yin came true!!!! It was just a temporary tragedy after all 🙂 I’m soo loving Bangkok! (Well, except for the traffic which was HUGELY unpleasant… whoa I said HUGE again *even if it wasn’t grammatically correct haha!*) 😀

xx